News: 3rd ACR vehicles get full view capabilities

Staff Sgt. Luiz Lopez views video from the Scout View Immersive Video Recording System for suspicious activity. The Scout View system allow soldiers to record a 360 degree view around them during patrols.

BABIL, Iraq- The 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment received new technology from BAE Systems in the form of 360 degree recordable capabilities. The company installed its Scout View Immersive Video Recording System into some of the unit’s Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicles in Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, and now the “Brave Rifles” have started using camera-equipped trucks on their daily missions.

The new system allows a convoy to record its entire mission in a 360 degree view onto a portable hard drive. Any incidents that occur during the unit’s mission can be marked and viewed. This allows a clearer picture of what happens on the ground during patrols.

“It will record 360 degrees of a patrol so you can go back and view the whole recording. This is so you can review the video and pick out significant events or warnings so we can be aware of them,” said Staff Sgt. Luiz Lopez, a gunnery sergeant with K Battery, 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, and a native of Lubbock, Texas.

The Scout View System comes with two pods, four cameras in each, a hardrive and all software needed to record over eight hours of footage. The equipment can be adapted to fit in any vehicle in the convoy.

“We have used this system a couple of times a week for eight hour patrols,” said Pfc. Geovani Pitters, MRAP driver, King Battery, 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment of Orlando, Florida. “The video is very clear. I feel a lot safer knowing we have the cameras on.”

Through use of the equipment, the unit can identify suspicious vehicles and suspicious activity during patrols and watch the video back at the base, said Pitters.

“The system allows us to record and retrieve real data that will provide actual facts on any event [during convoys],” said 1st Sgt Roland Cuellar, First Sergeant, King Battery, 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. “This gives us as leaders the ability to conduct better planning for future missions and provides lessons learned from a significant event that was captured.”